Approaches To Self-Managed Learning And Personal Development Essay.

• Evaluate approaches to self-managed learning.

• Propose ways in which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts could be encouraged.

• Evaluate the benefits of self-managed learning to the individual and organisation.

• Evaluate own current skills and competencies against professional standards and organisational objectives.

• Identify own development needs and the activities required to meet them.

• Identify development opportunities to meet current and future defined needs.

• Devise a personal and professional development plan based on identified needs.

• Discuss the processes and activities required to implement the development plan.

• Undertake and document development activities as planned.

• Reflect critically on own learning against original aims and objectives set in the development plan.

• Update the development plan based on feedback and evaluation.

• Select solutions to work-based problems.

• Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels.

• Evaluate and use effective time management strategies.?

An individual can take up different approaches to filling their desire of self-managed learning. Three types of approaches for self-managed learning are:

With technological advancement, gathering knowledge on any information from the internet source has become a very common way of learning. Information is available at the click of a button (Bayram, 2007).  The internet has a pool of journals, e-books, websites and newspaper. Learning never ends with the use of the internet.

The whole process of mentoring involves the learner and mentor. In this process, the mentor acts as a guide rather than a teacher and the learner gains knowledge of different professional aspects of life (Díaz-Maggioli, 2004).

Research helps in self-learning.  Research by a student enables him to learn about the topic assigned by the teacher (Holmes, 2002).

The benefits of individual self-managed learning are

•    Gaining self-awareness.

•    A Strong relationship can be built.

•    Strong sense of understanding.

•    Meeting the challenges boldly.

•    Dealing with ambiguous situations.

•    Knowing the learning method.

•    Work performance is improved.

•    Motivation among the employer and employees.

•     A better understanding of business.

•    New ideas can be introduced.

•    The manager also learns which in turn helps in gaining the role of a better manager.

The industry where I want to build my career in is the Analytics domain. The skills that I possess are not sufficient for me to flourish in this sector. Currently the skills that I have are basic computer skills like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint , Excel, research skills, quality presentation skills and note- taking skills (Johnston-Parsons, 2000). Researchers predict that there would be a huge requirement of data analyst in future.

Benefits of self-managed learning to individuals and organizations

To enter the analytics industry, an adequate knowledge of mathematics and statistics is required. Analytical tools like SAS and R will help me get the necessary knowledge in the industry. Knowledge related to some programming language like Python, SQL coding and Hadoop will help me enhance my skills. There is also the requirement of non-technical skills like communication, business acumen, etc (Le, Donnellan and Conger, 2013).

While formulating the goals, a proper routine is a must. The first step is to decide what things that are needed to achieve the goals. Goals are to be categorised according to its importance. A realistic schedule must be planned to achieve the goal.

Time management strategy like creating a ‘to do’ list to perform the actions before the start of each week help saves time (O’Brien and Jones, 2014).  Sufficient amount of time is to be spent on reading books that will help gather knowledge on analytics industry (Rhoton and Shane, 2001).

The skills that I possess may hold both strength and weaknesses. The strength in me is research skills, basic computer skills, communication skills, etc. The weaknesses that I have are the lack of knowledge related to programming language and lack of industry experience. The opportunity that I would get is to learn more statistical packages. The threat in the industry that I might face is the failure to predict the project results.

• To carry out the development activities, a proper log must be created so that the learning process is successful. The goals that are to be made should be considered according to our career domain and should not be made considering the interests of the others.  The target to enter the industry of analytics should be properly defined so that it is conveniently achieved. This can be the toughest part when structuring the log (Semadeni, 2009). The plans must be chosen so that it makes us happy and also benefit the loved ones. Some questions must be asked to our self so that we get a proper direction of life. The plan of action must be divided into three tiers. In the first tier, the things that are important are kept. The second tier should contain the things that come naturally and in the third tier we have the goal that does not matter.

• Technical skills like R and SAS can be learnt from any private institute or a diploma course can be learnt from a college. These skills provide some essence of the type of career we wish to take up in future. A solid knowledge on statistics is required. Statistics coaching classes in the weekend will help gain knowledge in statistics. 

Assessing skills and competencies

• I have started to learn basic statistics by reading books and journals and also working on some critical problems (Shiner, 2009). I have enrolled in an institute to gain knowledge in programming languages. Feed backs from the teachers help me to motivate towards the subject. They have evaluated my work and really appreciated.

• A proper time management strategy will help me to achieve success in my development plan. Every task must be scheduled before hand. A big task must be divided into sub-parts so that results may be achieved quickly. Short breaks in the routine will help in reducing excessive overload. A planner will help in prioritising the task and allocating time to the tasks.

To achieve progress in the development plan, motivational feedbacks from the mentors and the peers is very necessary.  The plan that is made for the personal development must have the approval of supervisors and also coordination from different units.  The coach who teaches the necessary skills must help in inculcating the seed of eagerness.  This will help our career to flourish. Learning from likeminded friends will sharpen our skills. The group study will help in knowing the subject matter to the core and also help in clearing the doubts that we do not know how to solve. Technical needs to be sharpened so that corporate company can easily absorb me (Simanowitz and Pearce, 2003). Technical skills help us to become job ready.  Training in data analytics tool is helping me progress against my development plan.

Time management is the way of doing everything priority wise as per a definite scheduling. As per my development plan, the scheduling of things are not done category or priority wise. I should make my decisions more organised. Planning schedule and noting them down in calendars or diaries will help to save precious amount of time.

 To achieve D1:

 Time management strategy has failed for me many times so I should focus on this area. Proper time should be allotted to tasks and should be completed within the time frame. The strengths that I possess are research skills; communication skills. To ensures that skills remain in their sheen, genuine steps are needed. The weakness that I have is the lack of analytical skills. I am working on that to develop success in my lifelong learning.

• There was a conflict regarding the work to be shared by the co-workers. The manager resolved the situation by dividing the task. A project in the workplace failed due to negligence by the worker. I rectified the flaws using necessary skills. I talked to the team members to solve the problem.

Creating a personal and professional development plan

•  A severe conflict has taken place that led me to call my relative working in the police force. A PowerPoint presentation on economics related topic helped me brush my communication skills. I submitted an email report to the principle for grant of leave.

A proper structure is to be planned before resolving any conflict. The problems that may arise are a) conflict regarding share of work. b) Negligence of team member’s performance c) Taking the negligence of a team member on one's shoulder. Problems can be resolved by

a)    Conflicts should be solved at the time it begins and not dragged in the later period. b) Asking the person politely on the situation that made him angry. c) Clearing out the problem by should be done through face to face interaction.   

Line managers in an organization looks into whether the employees can communicate freely with the employees. With this, I gained confidence in my communication skills. I was also encouraged by the manager on the way I presented any topic or communicated with my colleagues.

Subject: Ways to encourage lifelong learning.

• Individuals exchange views through the seminars and conferences. This helps the candidate to learn new things. The internet is a source where the candidate can learn vast knowledge.

• For current and future development, there should be an encouragement of continuous learning by the line manager.

Conclusion: 

From my approach, I am required to perform a proper time management strategy.

The approaches that I have followed are not with respect to the standard practices of CIPD. The CIPD body looks into the development of the workers in the organization.

The activities that we learn must be able to fulfil the future development needs. Skills can also be learnt through self managed learning programmes.

References

Bayram, L. (2007). Professional development. Practical Professional Child Care, 4(8), pp.6-6.

Díaz-Maggioli, G. (2004). Teacher-centered professional development. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Holmes, A. (2002). Lifelong learning. Oxford, U.K.: Capstone Pub.

Johnston-Parsons, M. (2000). Collaborative reform and other improbable dreams. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press.

Le, K., Donnellan, M. and Conger, R. (2013). Personality Development at Work: Workplace Conditions, Personality Changes, and the Corresponsive Principle. J Pers, 82(1), pp.44-56.

O’Brien, J. and Jones, K. (2014). Professional learning or professional development? Or continuing professional learning and development? Changing terminology, policy and practice. Professional Development in Education, 40(5), pp.683-687.

Rhoton, J. and Shane, P. (2001). Professional development. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.

Semadeni, J. (2009). Taking charge of professional development. Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.

Shiner, R. (2009). The development of personality disorders: Perspectives from normal personality development in childhood and adolescence. Develop. Psychopathol., 21(03), p.715.

Simanowitz, V. and Pearce, P. (2003). Personality development. Buckingham: Open University Press.